Speak

1. Speak
Laurie Anderson, the author of the novel Speak did a good job using motifs. Motifs are symbols
that are repeated throughout the whole story. They usually mark an important event of character. The
motifs in Speak are trees, lips and mirrors. When Melinda the main character tries to draw her art
project, a tree, an important event is about to happen. Along with that whenever Melinda bites her lip
she thinks back to the cause of her depression, getting raped at a party, and that makes her even more
depressed, marking an important moment in the novel. Also, whenever Melinda see’s a mirror she
covers it up or turns it around. A sure sign that something is going to happen.
To start with, trees. Melinda’s favorite teacher Mr. Freeman the art teacher makes everyone in
the class draw a symbol that they are supposed to represent in some way by the end of the year.
Melinda drew a tree. At first she thought of a tree as a boring and dumb choice but as the school year
went on she learned to love trees. Any time Melinda went to draw or carve a tree something important
would happen. That is why trees are considered motif’s.
In addition to the trees, lips are a very important motif. Lips are often considered unimportant
and often go unnoticed. In this novel the author made sure that whenever Melinda bit her lip an
important event would occur. While Melinda was thinking about being rapped she even bit clear
through her lip. That lead to her telling Mr. Freeman that she was raped, one of the most important
moments in the book. Motifs are like that, every day things used in important ways sometimes often in
books we read there are motifs everywhere we just don’t realize it.
The final motif in this novel is the mirrors. Melinda is depressed and she doesn’t want to look at
herself, a symptom of depression. The author took this one step farther. Whenever Melinda sees a
mirror she either covers it up or walks away. In her “closet” an old janitors closet at her school that she
converted be her own sanctuary when she skipped classes, there was a mirror. She covered it up with a

2. poster from the library. After that she grew even worse depressed yelling at the one person that was
trying to be her friend, Heather. The mirror was a sure sign of something like that happening.
In conclusion, Speak by Laurie Anderson is a great example of motifs at work. Trees, lips, and
mirrors are all motifs in this novel. Although they are only everyday objects the author uses them in
unique ways. Motifs can be found in any novel and, if read correctly, they can make a book all the more
interesting. Next novel you read look for the motifs!
Alex Hamm
Language Arts Hour 4